County fair shadow box SVG
A county fair on a summer day: the sun and a cloud, a big wheel with a ticket booth and trees on the far hill, a striped tent hung with bunting beside a barn, a cow, a sheep and a pig between the rails of the show ring, and a sheaf of wheat, a goat, a cockerel and a lemonade stall at the front. 5 sheets of card, cut and stacked with a gap between each, make the picture. The files are free, and every part of the scene can be moved, swapped or resized below before you download.
5 sheets at 10 × 8 in, landscape, zipped, with a note on putting them together.
Free for personal and commercial use, no sign-up. What you can do with it.
The 5 sheets
Sheet 1 is the back and sheet 5 is the front. Each one is a single piece with the same frame round its edge, so they line up when stacked. The colours shown are the “Forest green” set; cut them in any card you like. Cut sheet 4, “Show ring”, the slowest: at 0.9 mm it has the thinnest part in the scene, and sheet 5, “Stall and harvest”, fills the most of the view, 27% of it.
| Sheet | What is on it | Narrowest part | Seen from the front |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Sun and cloud | A whole sheet with holes for: Plain disc and Long flat cloud | over 2 mm | 32% |
| 2. Big wheel and trees | Rolling ground, with: Ferris wheel silhouette with a ticket booth, Three trees and Round tree silhouette | 1.7 mm | 13% |
| 3. Tent and barn | Rolling ground, with: Carnival tent with bunting and Barn with cross-braced doors | 1 mm | 13% |
| 4. Show ring | Rolling ground, with: 2 × Horse fence with crossed rails, Dairy cow with patches, Sheep silhouette and Pig silhouette | 0.9 mm | 14% |
| 5. Stall and harvest | A gentle slope, with: Lemonade stand with a jug and glasses, Goat silhouette, Wheat sheaf and Rooster chicken with a sickle tail | 0.9 mm | 27% |
Measured from the files at 10 × 8 in, landscape. The narrowest part is the thinnest neck of card that holds anything on; sharp tips are not counted. “Seen from the front” is the share of the picture that sheet fills once the sheets in front of it are in place.
Will it cut at your size?
The download is 10 × 8 in, landscape. The scene maker above makes the same scene at any of these sizes; the thinnest part scales with it.
| Frame opening | Each sheet | Narrowest part | Depth needed | Fits a 12 × 12 in mat | Rule of thumb |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 × 8 in, landscape | 254 × 203.2 mm | 0.9 mm | 17 mm | Yes | Fine detail: sharp blade, slow speed |
Depth needed allows 3 mm of foam between sheets and 5 mm for the card itself and the backing.
Making this one
A wide scene for a landscape frame. The wheel on the second sheet has a ticket booth at its foot and is about 1.7 mm at its finest at 10 by 8 inches. The tent with its two strings of bunting is about 1 mm. The animals and the rails of the show ring are about 0.9 mm, and so is the front sheet with the wheat and the stall. Cut it in greens for a summer fair, or choose the Autumn colours for a harvest show. Nothing hangs on a thread.
- Cut all 5 sheets from 160 to 220 gsm card at the same size.
- Lay them out in order, sheet 1 at the back.
- Put strips of 3 mm foam tape round the border of sheet 1 and press sheet 2 onto it with the edges level. Carry on to sheet 5.
- Fit the stack into a deep frame with the front sheet against the glass. For a light box, run a strip of warm white LEDs round the inside of the frame behind the stack.
The zip includes these steps as a text file, each sheet as its own SVG and all 5 side by side in one SVG. More on paper, frames and lights is on the shadow box page.
The parts, on their own
Everything in the scene comes from the free SVG library, where each has its own page and file:
- Long flat cloud
- Ferris wheel silhouette with a ticket booth
- Three trees
- Round tree silhouette
- Carnival tent with bunting
- Barn with cross-braced doors
- Horse fence with crossed rails
- Dairy cow with patches
- Sheep silhouette
- Pig silhouette
- Lemonade stand with a jug and glasses
- Goat silhouette
- Wheat sheaf
- Rooster chicken with a sickle tail
Questions
Can I change the animals?
Yes. Select one in the maker and choose Swap: horses, a hen with her chicks, a llama, a highland cow and a bull are under Animals.
Is there a scene with the wheel close up?
Yes. The Big wheel at the fair scene is an upright one with the wheel filling the frame, under fireworks.
Can I sell boxes I make with it?
Yes. Finished pieces are yours to sell. The files themselves may not be sold or shared; send people to this page. See the licence.
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